Often our juiciest dreams feel too big and out of reach. They don’t make sense. Our small self is terrified, but the greater part of us awakens to our soul calling out from beyond this moment.
Whenever this happens for me, I feel like celebrating and throwing up at the same time. My body trembles and I want to cry, pray and rejoice.
I wish I could tell you that I live in joyful faith that everything will be sunshine and roses. But the truth is that I get scared just like you. I want to pull back before I make a fool out of myself or before the world can reject me.
These days I’m blessed to be on my soul-inspired path. Yet I have navigated through a lot of terror to make it to this moment. I have sobbed, negotiated with God, experienced bouts of panic and threatened, more than once, to close up shop and give up.
But somehow grace and tenacity find me and carry me through the worst of it.
You see, your soul’s dreams are much bigger than you can imagine. And when they begin rumbling towards the surface, fear often starts reciting the litany of all the reasons why you shouldn’t even try.
So here are 5 tips for walking through the fear while birthing your dreams [because let’s face it, you’re awesome and you’re here for really cool adventures]:
- Take one small inspired action each day in service to your dream. Consistency has a way of building to critical mass. I like to think of this as the stealth approach to birthing a dream. It’s like sneaking in some mission critical tasks while fear is on a coffee break.
- Just Show Up. This is what my husband says to me every time I start to get scared or wonder how to move forward. He says, “Just show up. Your job is to be you and the universe will do the rest.” [Just so you know, most of the times he says this to me I want to scream, but he’s always right.] There’s something about just showing up that keeps the energy flowing. So just go to the painting class. Just write the blog post. Just go to the healing fair. Just show up and be you.
- Call in your angels. Even if they’re not your thing. Call in the angels, God, Source, the Universe, Unicorns… call in whatever represents the greater expanse of goodness in the world. There’s something amazing that happens when we allow ourselves to open up to divine assistance. Don’t stand on formality. Sometimes my prayer request is as simple as, “Angels, HELP!” You’re not in this alone, you have lots of divine assistance here to support you.
- Give yourself permission to sulk, throw a tantrum, be scared or distract yourself with binge-watching trash TV on Netflix. Sometimes when you find yourself overwhelmed and don’t know what to do, give yourself permission to disengage from the world for a day or two. [But if your mini-sabbatical turns into four months of Neflixing with hourly infusions of Ben & Jerry’s, chances are you’ve gone off the rails and need to call your coach/mentor/best friend for an industrial-sized pep talk.]
- Give your dreams permission to steep. There are days when I stare at the computer willing something brilliant to be born through me. I want people to sign up for classes, come to my Facebook page… I want SOMETHING amazing to happen. But I’ve done my part… now it’s time for the molecules of magic to have time to weave together into something beautiful. There’s nothing more to be done. That’s when I know it’s time to get out of the house and do something else. So often the biggest progress is made when we’re not doing anything at all.
Birthing your dream is a sacred journey. On the way you will have good days and terrible ones. Your job is to keep showing up & being you. Trust your soul to know the way.
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This blog post is inspired by:
The Give Your Dream Wings Blog Hop is a peek inside the process of how inspiring people make the magic happen. We’ve got some of the internet’s most inspiring bloggers sharing how they give their dreams wings – what they do that supports, nurtures and encourages their tender dreams to come to life.
This is happening in celebration of the new e-course of the same name by Andrea Schroeder of the Creative Dream Incubator. The Give Your Dream Wings e-course shows you how to nurture and grow YOUR dream, for free, in only 10 minutes a day. You do not have to wait until you have more time or money!
Click here to find out about the free e-course, and to read the other (crazy inspiring!) posts in this Blog Hop.
I love these tips. It’s great that some people, like you, are honest about being terrified of big dreams as well because sometimes it seems like it’s so easy for others and that I’m such a failure because I let fear stop me.
Thank you.
Hi Nela – I appreciate your comment. Yes, I agree. It is so helpful when we can share authentically. So much of life is the dance of shadow and light and it’s important to share both. It can seem like it’s all easy peasy, but I promise, I get scared, worried and anxious, sometimes, too. But remember, your soul’s work, is much bigger than your fear. Sending you light on your journey! ~ Laurel
Great tips Laurel! Very timely advice.
Was feeling quite overwhelmed last week with all the new things I’m learning and have to do to launch my website and telesummit. Booked myself a long over due massage, and my angels led me to a lady who also includes energy work with the massage. Just what I needed to become whole and get my brain and focus reconnected to my body. After a couple of days off, I feel ready to jump back into business today. I’m remembering to just show and do something (and it doesn’t have to be perfect). Today’s insight…it’s better to have created something that can be corrected / adjusted later, than to have it all still in my head waiting to be perfect.
Thanks for your posts.i eagerly wait for them.they are so inspiring and simple.pls keep writing knowing that you make a difference in our lives.helps us to keep going.god bless..